


A Fire Started In Uncertainty

by RedactedReader



Series: The Fire You Kindle For Your Enemy [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s01e13 The Blue Spirit, Serious Injuries, shoddy medical treatment in a way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:41:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29360478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedactedReader/pseuds/RedactedReader
Summary: Zuko took the press, moving to the end of the cot. He stood by the water tribe boy’s head, pressing the cold rag onto a rather nasty burn running along his collar bone. The boy gave a coarse moan, wiggling against the pain. Zuko pressed further, holding still until the other calmed. Yuji was moving around them, the sweet scent of aloe Vera and honey mixing in with the more foul ointment scents. The burns were wrapped with fresh bandages once properly cleaned.Zuko’s hands shook at the smells of the room. The scent of burnt flesh was nauseating and something that Zuko would never forget, no matter how many years he’d already been trying. He woke up in this very room years ago, pain eating away at his face and screams ripping through his throat.“Prince Zuko?” Yuji stopped treating the wounds, watching the prince. “If you need to leave, I will understand.”Zuko wanted to take the offer. But his pride denied him that. He steadied his hands, taking a container of aloe Vera for himself. “I am fine.”ooooZuko returned to the ship, with a very injured Sokka in his arms.
Series: The Fire You Kindle For Your Enemy [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2156745
Comments: 3
Kudos: 59





	A Fire Started In Uncertainty

**Author's Note:**

> Written Using Bad Things Happen Bingo: Bleeding Through the Bandages
> 
> I got a few request to write more on this, and decided to go ahead and do so. Finally got an idea on it, so here we go. This won’t be a long thing, maybe four or five parts in the end. Going to keep it in parts instead of chapters, simply because I like this format.

Uncle had dropped the tea he’d been drinking when Zuko showed up just after dawn, carrying a burnt and bleeding body over his shoulder. The porcelain cup had shattered against the metal deck as the aging man gave one look at the set of boys. Zuko’s hair was let down from his phoenix tale, cascading a single river of jet black hair down his neck, his black cotton pants and tunic were stained with mud and dried blood, and the light blue mask hanging off his belt was not even attempted to be hidden. The boy he was carrying was dripping blood and oozing from broken blisters. 

“Get him to medical!” Zuko’s voice broke through the tension on deck. Jee and two others moved forward, carefully taking the bleeding boy into their arms. His head hung back as Jee cradled the boy against his chest and moved below deck. Zuko turned towards another member of the crew. “Is everyone accounted for on this ship?”

The man went to attention. “Yes sir.”

“Then tell Sadao we leave this dock now. Get us into open water immediately.” The man bowed at Zuko’s request and ran off towards the command center. It only took a few moments before the ship’s smoke stacks started billowing more, the ship beginning to leave the secluded dock. Zuko turned, tripping over his feet at how close Uncle had been standing behind him.

“Zuko...” Uncle’s gaze had a hint of guilt that Zuko didn’t quite understand and most certainly didn’t like seeing. “The injuries that boy acquired. Please tell me you had no hand in those.”

Zuko’s heart dropped. He understood that strange gleam in his Uncle’s gaze now. The man thought he was capable of that. Of burning another man to such degree. Thought he was like Zhao. Like fath- “You think that I’d… Zhao captured the idiot. Intended to use him as bait for the Avatar. I got there first, found him like that, and took him. If you want to stand in judgment of me of what I’ve done, than fine. But I had no part in him ending up in this state.”

Zuko pushed passed his Uncle, refusing to look at the man’s speculative gaze. He stomped through the rusted ship as it cut it’s way through the ocean’s water. The medical room was small and under supplied. There was a single cot pushed up against the back wall, the injured boy asleep in it. Yuji was moving about frantically, trying to treat such damaging burns on his skin. Their supply of bandages were sprawled out on the counter, a stack on the floor from having already been bleed through. The room smelled of the various ointments and herbs being used on the wounds. 

Yuji turned around, gaze wide and dried blood clinging to his clothes. The man was the closest they had to any medic professional. That wasn’t saying much, as he was only a few years into his twenties, and had been drafted as a front line medic in training for only a few months before he had been discharged from military service for substance abuse. He knew enough to keep the men from bleeding to death from the abundance of injuries received on the rusted and jagged ship, but this was well out of his league. Or least it would have been, had he not first encountered such drastic burn wounds almost three years prior on a young prince. 

“Could you use this cold press on his shoulder.” Yuji held the press out, watching Zuko carefully. “I need a hand with some of these wounds, and the men of this ship are pussies when it comes to a bit of blood.”

Zuko took the press, moving to the end of the cot. He stood by the water tribe boy’s head, pressing the cold rag onto a rather nasty burn running along his collar bone. The boy gaze a coarse moan, wiggling against the pain. Zuko pressed further, holding still until the other calmed through the pain. Yuji was moving around them, the sweet scent of aloe Vera and honey mixing in with the more foul ointment scents. The burns were wrapped with fresh bandages once properly cleaned. 

Zuko’s hands shook at the smells of the room. The scent of burnt flesh was nauseating and something that Zuko would never forget, no matter how many years he’d already been trying. He woke up in this very room years ago, pain eating away at his face and screams ripping through his throat. Yuji had been there too, young, untrained and unsure of how to calm the bleeding child broken on the floor. 

“Prince Zuko?” Yuji stopped treating the wounds, watching the prince. “If you need to leave, I will understand.”

Zuko wanted to take the offer. But his pride denied him that. He steadied his hands, taking a container of aloe Vera for himself. “I am fine.” 

Yuji seemed unsure, but gave in. He instructed Zuko on how to treat the wound on his shoulder as he moved to deal with the deep cut on the boy’s side. He had already bleed through the first set of bandages. It took another half an hour before each wound was finally dressed and covered. Zuko had thrown up when he had ran the wet clothe over the burns on the boy’s chin. The deep red rivets had already started to crisp under the budding blistered. It was a familiar texture Zuko did not want to think on.

“You did good, Prince Zuko,” Yuji reassured. He placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder, hesitating for a moment at the too casual contact with his commanding officer. When the young prince’s shoulder’s sagged slightly under the touch, did Yuji smile slightly. “I’ma get a drink. We picked up some vodka at port, and I could use a shot. He’ll be fine for now. It’ll take a while before he awakes, but his most life threatening wounds are treated. He won’t die on us today. Rest now, my prince.” 

Yuji left, leaving Zuko to rest in the chair near the door. He whipped his dirty sleeve along his lower lip, removing the trail of vomit. It was disgusting. He was filthy. Zuko slid the black turtleneck off, throwing it into the bin with the blood soaked bandages. The mask was still tied to his belt. Undoing it, Zuko held it before him. The deep blue markings stared at him in taunting regards for his treasonous act. He stood, crossing the room and opening the little port window. He threw it out the window, watching as wooden mask was overtaken with the turning waves. 

He didn’t know how many of his crew had noticed the mask, or if his Uncle had, but it didn’t matter. They knew who the Water Tribe boy was, and if Zhao released information about the events of the night prior, then it wouldn’t take long for his crew to figure out what he had done. They weren’t the most honorable of men, but they weren’t dumb either. They would figure out what he had done.

“I had no choice,” Zuko snarled under his breath, reassuring himself in his fear. He tore his gaze away, from the ocean, instead watching the boy asleep before him. His chest rose and fell in slow patterns, a shudder of pain leaking into his otherwise peaceful sleep.

Uncle moved into the room at that point, sliding the door closed behind him. He took in the sight of his nephew and the bruises that were beginning to form along his pale torso. The bags under his eyes were growing deeper shades with each minute he was still awake. “I apologize for the accusation I placed upon you. I know you are not capable of such heinous actions-”

“You think I’m too weak to do so?” Zuko refused to look at his Uncle. He moved across the small room, plunging his blood stained hands into chillingly cold water. He scrubbed them clean with the bristled pad. “That I cannot do what needs to be done.”

Uncle’s expression was sad as he let a sigh escape his lip. “You think what Zhao did to this boy was necessary?”

“Of course not. That’s not what I meant.”

“I did not mean to imply weakness on your person, Prince Zuko. You are many things, but weak is not one of them. And cruel is not another. It’s why I was so startled to see you and this boy in such a state. I have always known you as a kind, compassionate young boy, and I have never wanted those qualities in you to be squandered. Being incapable of committing the atrocities those like Zhao are capable of, is not a flaw in your character. It’s a flaw in theirs, that they could inflict such suffering on others.” 

Physical feeling was something Zuko had lost in half his face when his father had burnt him. There were still those phantom pains that feel real enough to cause harm. It was hurting now; feeling hot with the memory of fire underneath that ruined skin. Zuko placed a hand on the rivets of his face, remembering when it had once been the blistered mess the other boy’s facial wounds were. It was different, Zuko told himself. His father had reasons for what he’d done. Zhao had… Zhao was just a psychopath; a monster emboldened by his position of power. The sooner the war ended, the sooner the Avatar was in chains, the sooner these such events could be stopped. 

That stopped Zuko’s thoughts fully. He had stolen the other boy from the compound before news of his capture spread too far, but what if he hadn’t. What would Zhao had done had he been successful in trapping the Avatar. He had tortured someone who, despite being a thorn in Zuko’s side for months, was no real threat to the Fire Nation’s conquest. He was an innocent, almost as old as Zuko was… and the Avatar was even younger. He was a child. He didn’t think the boy’s young age would have done much to stop Zhao’s blood lust. 

Or to be honest, he didn’t know if the boy’s age would matter much to his father either. The Avatar needed to be stopped, it didn’t matter if he was twelve, or what tactics would need to be taken. But looking at the tortured Water Tribe boy, and the ghost of pain itching at his own face, Zuko removed it all from his mind. He stood, knees wobbling with exhaustion. 

“I’m going to bed. Wake me should anything changes with him.” Zuko pushed passed his Uncle without another word. The crew members he passed nodded to him, one of them offering him a bowl of porridge in passing. He locked the door to his room, listening to any sound that passed on the other side. 

The mattress he slept in was lumpy, and constantly smelled of sea salt and was always a little cold from the steel floor it resided on. He dropped onto it, setting the porridge on the floor beside him. The Fire Nation banner hanging on the wall taunted him. The insignia stood out, gold against deep red. He turned his gaze from it, laying down on the lumpy mattress. He was asleep within a few minutes.

ooo  
The ship was in utter chaos. Zuko awoke to the shouts outside his door. He was up within in instant, unlocking and throwing the door open. Stepping out into the hall, he was run down by a bulky body. Picking himself off the floor, he glared at the crewman who had plowed him over. “What is happening? Are we being boarded?”

“No, my prince.” The man, Ryozo spoke quickly. “The prisoner awoke a few moments ago. He somehow managed to get onto the deck. He’s giving the men a bit of trouble.”

“He’s injured! How much trouble can he be!” Zuko took off down the hall, taking up the stairs and coming onto the main deck. Six soldiers were there, standing in a half circle about. Across from them, was the Water Tribe prisoner. He was wobbling, swinging a pole about wildly whenever one of them moved too close. His blue gaze narrowed when Zuko broke through the line, and he swung at him. 

“You asshole!” The boy swung again, missing by a large margin when Zuko stepped aside. He was wobbling even more, blood beginning to stain the bandages wrapped around his chest. The bandage on his chin was peeling off, showing off the blistering burn. “I’m beat your ass!” 

Zuko side stepped another swing. He was smirking now. “How you gonna do that when you can’t even land a hit. I saved your life, you should be grateful, you filthy peasant.”

“Oh, let me give me thanks to you, you perfect saint,” the boy’s voice was laced with sarcasm. “Rescuing me from the fire, just to drop in your frying pan. How generous of you, to make me your prisoner instead. You patch me up, just to torture me yourself?”

Zuko nearly was hit with the next swing. “I have no intention to harm you. But if you do not cooperate, your stay here will be unpleasant. I require information, and you will give it.”

“I won’t tell you anything about Aang. If I didn’t give anything to that crazy freak, what makes you think I will tell your ugly burnt face anything.”

Zuko reached out at the next swing. He allowed the metal to hit his bare forearm, wrapping the pole within his hold. He grabbed it with his other hand, ripping it from the boy’s grip. The Water Tribe boy toppled over, landing face first on the solid metal ship’s deck. The bandages on his back were stained through. When he turned back over, laying flat on his back, the blood on the front of his chest was bleeding through the bandages. There was blood rolling from his nose. A curse was whispered through his lips.

Zuko felt remorse instantly. It was a dishonorable assault. The other boy was in no state to be fighting and this was no victory. He leaned down, grabbing the boy’s arm. “You don’t have much room to be judging burns.” 

He pulled him up a little rougher than necessary. The boy stumbled, reluctantly grabbing onto Zuko to keep himself from falling over again. His face was pressed into Zuko’s bare shoulder, and he bite down. It wasn’t a deep wound, but it was the first mark he had achieved in making. Zuko snarled in response, “take him back to medical and treat his wounds. And find some cuffs for him. I don’t want him able to escape again.”

Jee took the boy by his shoulders, steering him back into the ship. The boy’s deep blue gaze look back at Zuko before they disappeared back down the stairs. He looked defiant and ready to fight, yet there was still a fear building under that gaze.

“Have you eaten anything, nephew?” Uncle was beside him, watching him carefully. 

“I am fine.” 

Uncle closed his eyes before leveling Zuko with a kind gaze. He placed a hand on Zuko’s back, slowly leading him down the stairs and towards the kitchen. “That is not what I asked. We had a good catch yesterday, so there is fresh fish for lunch. I believe Shin made sesame chili cod. I know how much you enjoy sesame chili.”

Zuko stopped resisting his Uncle’s lead when the smell of chili flavored fish laced under his nose. They passed the infirmary, getting a glance of the Water Tribe boy trying to kick at the soldier around him as they cuffed him, and Yuji threatening to sedate the boy. Zuko moved to go knock the boy out himself, but his Uncle’s hand on his back continued to lead him down the stairs.

Lunch was a blessing. He hadn’t eaten the day before in his rush to get to the fort. It wasn’t uncommon for him to skip a meal, but an entire night of breaking into a military fortress and dragging an unconscious body through the woods had been true torment on a rumbling stomach. He ate a whole fish to himself, and had gone back for a second. It wasn’t often that they managed to get such a large catch of fresh fish (as none of them had been trained when it came to open sea fishing) so he would enjoy the fresh haul while he could.

Of course, the momentary enjoyment had been interrupted when their prisoner had taken a wrong turn in his second attempt to escape and stumbled into the half crowded kitchen. He had been lead back by a firm grip on his cuffs and properly secured to a pipe this time.

ooo

Zuko arrived in the infirmary, once more changed into his military armor, his hair pulled into a high phoenix tale. He struck an imposing figure in the doorway. Especially since the other boy was now sitting in the floor, handcuffed to a sink pipe. They had changed him out of his burnt and ripped clothes, and dressed him in an ill-fitting set of red and black tunic and loose pants. He was barefoot, his feet sticking out from under pants that were too long. Zuko stood over him, crossing his arms over his armored chest.

“You will give me the information I require.” 

The boy rolled his eyes. “I ain’t telling you anything. Might as well just chuck me overboard.”

“I have no interest in throwing you over, and I have no interest in keeping you. I will grant you your freedom, let you go back to your home if you give me the Avatar.”

The boy narrowed his gaze. “I’m not giving you Aang. You think I’d let you sick people get your hands on him?”

“I promise you, no harm will come to the Avatar you stupid peasant.”

“Sokka,” he snarled. “My name is Sokka. And the Avatar’s name is Aang. He’s a person. A child. He’s twelve. He eats far too many sweets, and has terrible money management skills, and wants to befriend everyone and cuddle all the animals and make flower crowns and is far too innocent and friendly for everything he had gone through. And you people want to kill him because you’re sick monsters.”

Flames flickered around Zuko’s clenched fists. Sokka flinched deeply, tugging at the cuffs as the flames danced through the air. Fear was evident in his gaze. The bandage had once more fallen away from the burns along his chin. The ones on his arms were stained with blood beginning to leaking through again. Zuko let the flames in his hands fall away instantly. It would have been a good tactic, threatening someone familiar with the pain of burns with more such pain. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. 

His father’s voice danced through his mind, taunting his weakness in this moment. 

“The Avatar won’t be killed. It would be pointless as his spirit would just be reborn into the Water Tribes. My father does not want that.”

“No,” Sokka rolled his eyes, “he just wants to what… keep a twelve year old imprisoned for another eighty, ninety years? Keep him sedated and tortured all that time.”

“He would not be tortured.”

“He’s a talented airbender with the untapped power of a fucking god in his belt. If you think they’re going to just drop him in a cell, and everything will be fine and dandy, you’re delusional. People like Zhao, people like your father, there sick bastards who don’t care rather or not he’s a child, their just scared cause he’s the worlds last breath of hope of ending this war and stopping your fucking sick nation-”

“You know nothing!” Flames licked between Zuko’s teeth as he snarled at accusations. “My father is doing what is necessary for the Fire Nation. For the world. The Avatar is standing in the way, doing nothing but prolonging this war. If you really wanted this war to end, you would give me the Avatar.”

Sokka glared harder. “I can’t tell if you’re a psycho or just an idiot.”

Zuko gave a growl, storming out of the infirmary. The door slammed shut behind him, cutting off the howls Sokka was still throwing his way. Zuko stormed through the ship, coming out on top of the deck. He shot out a fireball, the plum of flames fizzling out over the open ocean.

“I take it you’re talk did not go well?” Uncle had set up a Pai Sho table. Another crewman was across from him, running a hand over his face as he struggled to figure out his move. 

“He will not talk. He’s rude and argues and...” Zuko trailed off, watching the horizon line. The thought crossing his mind was treason, but he had to ask. “What happens to the Avatar when I bring him to my father?”

Uncle moved a tile across the board; clearly an impressive move judging from the way the other man dropped his head on the table. “The Avatar is an impressive force. The bridge between our world and the Spirit World, and the embodiment and power of each of our nations elements.”

“I know what the Avatar is. I need to know how he would be contained.” 

Uncle took a tile from the board, moving it through his fingers. On closer look, Zuko recognized it as the Lotus Tile. “It would not be easy. We have already seen the skill level this Avatar has, and he is only an under trained child. Keeping him contained would be a constant struggle, even the slightest allowance of him getting his footing, could be chance of him achieving the Avatar State. I doubt the Fire Nation could truly contain the Avatar State being unleashed on domestic soil. He would be kept alive as long as possible, but it would not be a pleasant life. The alternative…” 

“If he is killed in the Avatar state...” it was always highly speculated that death within the Avatar State would be a complete removal of the Avatar from the world. “So there is a cause for father sentencing death on Aang.”

Iroh raised a brow, finally setting the tile onto the board. “Aang. That is the boy’s name I presume.” 

Zuko continued staring out at the sea. This was what he needed to do. His father had set him on his task, and offered his honor back upon completion. But he had to stop for a moment. Zhao had tortured the Water Tribe boy for no reason other than he took pleasure in such things. When Zuko had still been at home, his father had always spoken highly of Zhao’s military skills and talent with squashing rebellions. He had sided with General Leiko in his strategy that sacrificed the sixteen young recruits of the forty-first division. Servants at the palace had suffered quick and violent punishments for minor infractions. Zuko himself, had the evidence of Fire Nation violence written not only on his face, but down his side and arms as well. 

He had a prisoner cuffed in his infirmary, who was badly burnt and still bleeding through the bandages wrapped around his body. A young boy slowly waking from the terrible flu that had knocked him his friend out, would likely face a similar fate should Zuko find success. 

A ship was leaving port, the commander set on retrieving his stolen property, no matter what it took.

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter will be looking into Aang and Katara during all this. Will be skipping the town in The Fortune Teller cause I don't wanna deal with that town and moving towards Bato of the Water Tribe.


End file.
